Average yearly cost for a child's food allergy: $4,184

Parents often spend more on groceries from specialty stores

8:29 AM,
Sep. 18, 2013

An allergy alert for an order placed by a customer who's food allergy is peanut and treenut. The order is prepared by Sous Chef Donald Colley, in Maggiano's back kitchen. Mary Iuvone/For the Courier News

Written by

Kim Painter
| Special for USA Today

Food allergies in children are not only increasingly common, but they also are expensive - costing an average of $4,184 a child each year, with $931 coming straight out of parents' pockets, a new study finds.

The study, published this week in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, is the first to add up costs for the estimated 8 percent of U.S. children with allergies to peanuts, milk, eggs and other foods.

The study, based on surveys of 1,643 parents, puts the total cost to the nation at nearly $25 billion a year. That includes the cost of visits to doctors, hospitals and emergency rooms, much of which is ...